Psychologyhttp://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html
Upcoming EventsMultilevel Modeling, Sep 5http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=119547&date=2018-09-05
Multilevel modeling (MLM) is everywhere these days. Reviewers are increasingly asking people to use this advanced approach to statistics and there are more and more online calculators devoted to helping people run MLM analyses. But MLM requires making a lot of choices, and without a clear understanding of what MLM is, it is easy to make mistakes. In this one hour whirlwind tour of MLM, I will introduce you to the topic, help you figure out when MLM is needed (and when it is not), and describe the 4 questions you should ask yourself every time you use it: (1) What is the structure of my data? (2) Are my effects fixed or random? (3) What type of centering should I use? (4) Which covariance matrices should I use?http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=119547&date=2018-09-05Understanding human sociality, Sep 5http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=119488&date=2018-09-05
Abstract: There is increasing concern that the proliferation of AI-driven automation—particularly in areas dealing with labor markets, education, and criminal justice—may perpetuate and even amplify preexisting biases and social inequities facing certain groups of individuals. However, despite the rich social scientific literature on these topics, we are still far from methods and tools that can recognize, quantify, and correct social biases at the scale necessary to address these societal challenges. Here we connect our work in computational neuroscience of social behavior with machine learning approaches, and develop models that are able to (i) make accurate out-of-sample predictions of social decision-making in both lab and field settings and (ii) scale and generalize to societally relevant challenges.http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=119488&date=2018-09-05Our Emotions, Our Bodies, Ourselves, Sep 12http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=119798&date=2018-09-12
Traditional theories about emotion posit that variation in responses to evocative stimuli is epiphenomenal, or unrelated, to the experience of emotion. In this talk, I present data from a meta-analysis on bodily responses during emotion from which I will argue that variation in responses is pervasive and normative and that understanding the full scope of human emotion requires broadening our view of variability beyond error or methodological noise. I have been taking this approach in my own work and I will present data on one internal source of variation in affective reactivity and that is individual differences in our ability to perceive our bodily states. More recently, I have been investigating external sources of variation, in particular, the way that other people’s emotions on our own subjective and physiological responses.http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=119798&date=2018-09-12Looking to learn and learning to look: The development of infants’ visual attention, Sep 17http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=119776&date=2018-09-17
For decades researchers have measured infants’ looking behavior. Much of this work has focused on what looking reveals about other cognitive processes. In this talk I will discuss the development of looking as a key visual behavior that both reflects aspects of cognition and directly influences cognitive development. I argue that by considering the multiple factors that influence where and how long infants look we can gain deep understanding into infant cognitive development, and the cascading effects of early achievements and events on later developmental outcomes.http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=119776&date=2018-09-17Clinical Science Psychology Students 3rd Yr Talk, Sep 18http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=119836&date=2018-09-18
GARRET ZIEVE<br />
Title: Client memory for treatment: A program of research at the intersection of cognitive, educational, and clinical science<br />
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CECE ARMSTRONG<br />
Title: 'A theory-guided process evaluation of barriers and facilitators to behavior change after receiving the Transdiagnostic Intervention for Sleep and Circadian Dysfunction' <br />
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KALEY CURTIS<br />
Parent-child emotion discussion is linked to children’s socio-emotional competence in Chinese American immigrant familieshttp://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=119836&date=2018-09-18Clinical Science Psychology Student 3rd Yr Talk, Sep 25http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=120229&date=2018-09-25
Lauren Weittenhiller <br />
Title: "Social Narratives in Schizophrenia: Motivations and Barriers" <br />
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Jenna Wells<br />
Title: Poor emotion suppression is associated with increased anxiety in caregivers of patients with neurodegenerative diseasehttp://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=120229&date=2018-09-25IPSR Brownbag Talks, Sep 26http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=120140&date=2018-09-26
An informal gathering in which graduate students and postdoctoral fellows present their work to faculty and students and receive suggestions and feedback. Our presenters are:<br />
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Michael O'Donnell<br />
"Preference Reversals in Willingness-to-Pay and Choice"<br />
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Michael Rosenblum<br />
“Tell It Like It is: When Political Incorrectness Promotes Authenticity”http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=120140&date=2018-09-26Clinical Science Psychology Students 3rd Yr Talk, Oct 2http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=120460&date=2018-10-02
Peter Soyster<br />
Title: On the path to precision behavioral health interventions: Idiographic modeling and forward prediction of cigarette use <br />
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Manon Ironside<br />
Title: Decision Approaches to the Explore-Exploit Dilemma in Bipolar Disorderhttp://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=120460&date=2018-10-02How Realistic is Photorealistic?, Oct 3http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=119808&date=2018-10-03
Modern computer graphics are capable of generating highly photorealistic images. While this can be considered a success for the computer graphics community, it has given rise to complex forensic and legal issues. A compelling example comes in the need to distinguish between computer-generated and photographic images as it pertains to the legality and prosecution of child exploitation in the United States. Professor Farid will describe a series of experiments that measure observers’ ability to distinguish the photographic from the computer-generated, simple steps that can be taken to improve observer accuracy, and preliminary studies that attempt to determine how observers are performing this task.http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=119808&date=2018-10-03Being Real, Oct 3http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=119799&date=2018-10-03
Although the concept of authenticity has been an enduring interest among philosophers, theorists, and psychological scientists, no consensual definition has been achieved. Points of contrast across theories include whether authenticity is a trait or a state, whether it is general or role-specific, the degree to which it encompasses internal experiences and external behaviors, and the extent to which it is adaptive. In a series of 7 well-powered studies using self-report, informant-report, and observational data, we hone in on a core feature of authenticity that we term "realness" that is general, relatively stable, unidimensional, mostly but not universally adaptive, and focused primarily on behavioral expression. The identification of realness as a core feature of authenticity should facilitate future work on its structure, the contextual impacts of different social roles and situations, and its functional relevance.http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=119799&date=2018-10-03Henry Mahncke: From PhD to Industry, Oct 3http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=120394&date=2018-10-03
http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=120394&date=2018-10-03The origins of morality: Developing a society of equals, Oct 8http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=120455&date=2018-10-08
Although human societies provide protection from harm and enable the construction of collaborative and mutually beneficial social structures, they also pave the way for social hierarchies that deny equal treatment to certain portions of the population. Developmental science research reveals that children are aware of status and hierarchies, often reject the status quo, and seek to rectify social inequalities, citing concerns of fairness and equal treatment. We have documented a shift from early to middle childhood from a focus on in-group bias and exclusionary practices to concerns for rectifying group-based inequities. Challenging inequalities is costly, however, and we identify the barriers as well as the catalysts. With age, children’s knowledge of groups, theory of mind, and experiences of cross-group friendships enable them to begin to critically evaluate unfair practices, and act on their fairness principles, particularly in peer contexts.http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=120455&date=2018-10-08Sleepless and alone, Oct 10http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=120308&date=2018-10-10
Loneliness is a growing public health epidemic, reliably increasing mortality and morbidity risks in socially isolated individuals. A potential factor linking loneliness to poor health is disturbed sleep. Both lonely individuals as well as socially isolated animals suffer from worse sleep quality compared to socially connected controls. Focusing on the importance of sleep in modulating social behavior, our recent series of studies demonstrate that: 1) Lack of sleep as well as poor sleep quality lead to a neural and behavioral phenotype of social separation and loneliness in healthy individuals. 2) Other members of society can perceive this lonely phenotype and will refrain from socially interacting with a sleep- deprived individual. 3) Other members of society reciprocally feel lonelier themselves following an interaction with a sleep-deprived individual. Together, these data support a model in which sleep loss creates a propagating, self-reinforcing cycle of social separation and withdrawal.<br />
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Eti’s work explores the social and affective consequences of sleep loss using behavioral, electrophysiological and neuroimaging techniques. She received her PhD in neuroscience from Tel Aviv University and is currently a postdoctoral fellow in the Center for Human Sleep Science in UC Berkeley, directed by prof. Matthew Walker.http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=120308&date=2018-10-10Book Talk: In Defense of Troublemakers, Oct 10http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=119782&date=2018-10-10
Author Charlan Nemeth, Professor of Psychology (UC Berkeley), will discuss her book In Defense of Troublemakers: The Power of Dissent in Life and Business (Basic Books, 2018). She will explain why dissent should be cherished, not feared, because it leads to more creative and better decision-making. Lone objectors — from Twelve Angry Men to Edward Snowden — force people to question their assumptions and bring groups far closer to truth.http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=119782&date=2018-10-10Fronto-thalamic interaction in cognitive control and flexibility, Oct 10http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=120588&date=2018-10-10
http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=120588&date=2018-10-10School-Based Interventions to Improve Developmental Trajectories in Very Young Adolescents, Oct 15http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=120437&date=2018-10-15
Background: In recognition of our broader multi-disciplinary community in BWW (Psychology, Education, Public Health, IHD and IPSR) some of the slots in the 2018-2019 IHD/Developmental Psychology Colloquium will be used for a series of cross-cutting interdisciplinary panel discussions. These panels serve two goals. First, to bring together several disciplinary perspectives to promote a more integrative understanding of developmental science. Second, to examine how a trans-disciplinary approach can be applied to create positive impact—to improve the lives of children and youth in real world settings. <br />
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Our first panel in this series will focus on very young adolescents. The onset of adolescence initiates a period of rapid physical growth, maturational changes, social learning, adaptation, and formational neurobiological development [Dahl et al. Nature 2018]. During this time of dynamic change young lives can pivot rapidly—in negative and positive directions. From a developmental science perspective, there is growing interest in understanding how to target this time of pivotal change as a window of opportunity—to promote positive developmental trajectories of health, education, social, and economic success. <br />
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This panel will describe three different approaches to designing interventions to leverage this developmental window for positive change. Each project utilizes a school-based intervention in a low-to-middle income country (Tanzania, Peru, and Honduras respective) and seeks to improve developmental trajectories spanning multiple outcomes (health, social development, and well being). Each project is also quite distinct in specific goals, approach, methods, disciplinary teams, and cultural contexts. By comparing and contrasting these projects we seek to promote a multi-disciplinary discussion and help to integrate understanding of the relevant developmental science and the challenges and opportunities in applying the science in specific settings. <br />
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Discover Learning, presented by Dr. Megan Cherewick (IHD), is a BMGF funded study designed for very young adolescents (10 to 11 years old) in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Discover Learning is a 12-session, after school intervention led by young adult facilitators. Discover Learning includes team building and collaborative mixed-gender group work, laptop-based learning activities, opportunities to discover the value of learning in shaping one's future, and time for reflection. The long-term goal of Discover Learning is to better understand how scientific insights about early adolescence and puberty can enhance the impact of scalable interventions to improve social relationships, gender equity and health outcomes.<br />
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Transitions, presented by Dr. Lucía Magis-Weinberg (IHD), is a project in partnership with Innova Schools in Perú, which seeks to empower tutors and support students in the transition between primary and middle school. By adding developmental science principles into the design of their Advisory curricula, we seek to more effectively scaffold healthy habits in relation to technology use, sleep and wellbeing. <br />
Ending child marriage through holistic secondary education, presented by Dr. Erin Murphy-Graham (Graduate School of Education), is a Design-Based Research study being conducted in tandem with Asociación Bayán in Honduras. It is exploring how holistic secondary education can play a role in changing the cultural beliefs and practices in rural Honduran communities where child marriage and early pregnancy are prevalent. <br />
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Ron Dahl will introduce and moderate the session and discussion. <br />
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Please join us as we explore innovative approaches to trans-disciplinary developmental science to improve the lives of youth.http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=120437&date=2018-10-15Clinical Science Colloquium, Oct 16http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=120813&date=2018-10-16
Title: The Emotional ER: Physician and Nurse Biases Toward Patients with Mental Illness and/or Substance Use Disorders<br />
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Abstract:<br />
The Institute of Medicine has recently identified diagnostic error as “the next frontier in patient safety” and has highlighted that every single person is likely to experience at least one diagnostic error in their lifetime. Unfortunately, some patients are at risk for experiencing many diagnostic errors. A growing body of research indicates that patients with mental illness and/or substance use disorders (SUDs) are less likely to receive the same physical health care as mentally healthy patients, and are less likely to be treated in accordance with clinically-established guidelines. Although it is unclear why these disparities exist, it is well-established that individuals with a mental illness and/or SUD represent a highly stigmatized segment of the population that routinely evokes negative emotions. Such reactions among health care providers are hypothesized to contribute to diagnostic error. This may be particularly likely in high-stress, fast-paced Emergency Departments, where patients with mental illness and/or SUDs are seen at alarmingly high and increasing rates. The current research investigates the emotional experiences of Emergency physicians and nurses when treating patients with mental illness and/or SUDs, and the effects of these emotions on clinical reasoning and behavior. Data from qualitative and experimental studies will be presented.http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=120813&date=2018-10-16Emotionally Unpredictable Leaders Harm Team Performance Because They Create Intra-team Power Struggles, Oct 17http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=119816&date=2018-10-17
Prior research demonstrates that the discrete emotional displays of leaders, such as anger and happiness, send social information to followers that helps to direct team members’ focus, understanding of the situation, and motivation, boosting team performance. We argue that a key assumption underlying this research is that leaders’ emotions are informative to followers, sending consistent social information. Here, we extend socio-functional approaches to emotion by investigating what happens when the patterns of leader emotional displays are unpredictable to followers. Taking an emotions as social information perspective (van Kleef, 2009), we propose that follower perceptions of leader emotional unpredictability sends social information to team members that there is uncertainty in how the leader allocates resources within the team. This is expected to cause intra-team conflict among followers and to thereby reduce team performance. Using a multi-method approach, we find support for our model in a set of five studies, including a scale-validation study, a field study of 246 retail teams, a laboratory study of interacting groups, a laboratory study with a confederate actor, and an online experiment. The findings inform our understanding of how leaders’ emotional displays influence team performance, extending EASI theory to include how unpredictability in leaders’ expressions of emotions can be dysfunctional for teams.http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=119816&date=2018-10-17From Academia to Airbnb: a high dimensional anecdote, Oct 17http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=120831&date=2018-10-17
You can find Jason Vytlacil's LinkedIn page here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-vytlacil/http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=120831&date=2018-10-17In Remembrance of Diana Baumrind, Oct 22http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=120818&date=2018-10-22
To honor the contributions of Diana Baumrind's life work on parenting, Larry Nucci, Phil and Carolyn Cowan, Nadia Sorkhabi, Liz Owens, and Bob Larzelere will briefly present their recent projects in collaboration with Diana.http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=120818&date=2018-10-22You Want How Much?!, Oct 24http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=119817&date=2018-10-24
Much research has robustly shown that individuals benefit from making a first offer in negotiations and has advocated high offers for sellers and low offers for buyers. However, little research has considered how extreme (unreasonably high for sellers and unreasonably low for buyers) offers, as well as the negotiators who make them, are perceived. Experiment 1 found that, compared to moderate offers, extreme offers are seen as less reasonable, more aggressive, and more offensive, and that those who make extreme (vs. moderate) offers are seen as less skilled at negotiating and less warm. Two further experiments tested how extreme (vs. moderate) offers would affect counteroffers and found that whereas women benefited from making extreme vs. moderate offers, men did not experience any anchoring advantage. Based on prior findings on gender stereotypes in negotiation, specifically that women lack negotiation skills and men are more skilled negotiators, we hypothesized that shifting standards for negotiation skills may underlie this phenomenon. Women are held to lower standards in negotiation ability, and as a result, when women make extreme offers (which are a sign of negotiator incompetence), they are judged as less unskilled whereas similarly extreme offers from a man are judged as particularly incompetent and are dismissed.http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=119817&date=2018-10-24Department of Psychology Faculty Research Lecture, Oct 24http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=120928&date=2018-10-24
This talk will describe a program of research on the emotion regulatory benefits of self-distancing -- the process of transcending one’s egocentric point of view in the here-and-now. I will present data from multiple levels of analyses (e.g., behavioral, neural) using a variety of research designs (i.e., correlational, experimental, longitudinal) that elucidate how and why self-distancing might foster both personal and interpersonal well-being. Implications of the findings for applications (intervention, therapy, training) will be discussed. <br />
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Reception immediately following.http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=120928&date=2018-10-24Children Learning to Collaborate: Cultural Paradigms, Oct 29http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=120757&date=2018-10-29
How do children learn to collaborate with others? In this talk, Barbara Rogoff discusses cultural differences in children's collaboration and in supports for learning to collaborate. She argues that collaboration is a key aspect of a cultural paradigm for learning that is especially prevalent in many Mexican and Indigenous-heritage communities of the Americas, where children have wide opportunity to contribute to endeavors of their family and community. Collaboration appears to be less common and less supported in middle-class communities that segregate children from the range of activities of their community.http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=120757&date=2018-10-29Opportunities and challenges of high-field fMRI for neuroscience applications, Oct 31http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=120638&date=2018-10-31
In this talk, Dr. Kendrick Kay will describe two recent projects that exploit functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) at ultra-high magnetic field strength (7 Tesla). The first project consisted of whole-brain fMRI retinotopic mapping in 181 healthy adults, as part of the Human Connectome Project (T2*-weighted gradient-echo EPI, 1.6-mm isotropic resolution, 1-s TR, 85 slices, multiband acceleration 5, in-plane acceleration 2). Both group-average and individual-subject results indicate robust signals across much of the brain, including occipital, temporal, parietal, and frontal cortex as well as subcortical areas. The data and resources from this project have been made freely available, and can be used to answer a variety of scientific questions. The second project involved measuring fMRI signals at sub-millimeter resolution during a simple visual experiment (T2*-weighted gradient-echo EPI, 0.8-mm isotropic resolution, 2.2-s TR, 84 slices, multiband acceleration 2, in-plane acceleration 3). Using careful evaluation metrics, Dr. Kay demonstrates that fMRI responses can indeed be measured at sub-millimeter scale with high accuracy and reliability. However, simple inspection of T2*-weighted intensities reveals that these responses, though measurable, are corrupted by a complex network of cortical veins. He shows that venous effects are widespread, heterogeneously distributed, tend to be found in outer cortical depths, and are more prevalent in gyri than sulci. These two projects are strikingly different in measurement protocols and experimental goals. Together, they demonstrate that ultra-high-field fMRI is valuable but requires concerted effort to understand the nature of the measurements and whether valid inferences regarding local neural activity can be made.http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=120638&date=2018-10-31Title: Emotion and cognition in late life: Different paths, different vulnerabilities, Oct 31http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=121050&date=2018-10-31
In this talk I will present theory and research on the ways that emotional functioning changes with age. Comparisons will be made with the well-established age-related declines that characterize cognitive and physical aging. Implications for deepening our understanding of the relationships between cognition and emotion in brain and behavior will be considered.http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=121050&date=2018-10-31Their pain, our pleasure, Nov 7http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=119818&date=2018-11-07
If humans are innately good, cooperative, fair, and averse to harming one another, why does widespread intergroup conflict persist? Several factors contribute to fomenting hostility between groups; in my talk I will focus on the role of pleasure in response to out-group pain. People who identify strongly with their social groups frequently experience pleasure when they observe threatening out-group members’ misfortunes: a phenomenon termed intergroup Schadenfreude. Though people are generally averse to harming others, they may learn to overcome this aversion via the consistent pairing of subjective pleasure with out-group pain, thereby lowering the barrier to participating in out-group harm. I will review a series of behavioral, fMRI, and electromyography studies exploring this phenomenon and its relationship to out-group harm.http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=119818&date=2018-11-07Professor Michael Silver Psychology Colloquium Lecture, Nov 7http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=121357&date=2018-11-07
The neurotransmitter acetylcholine (ACh) has been extensively studied at the level of synapses and neural circuits, but comparatively little is known about its effects on perception and cognition in humans. We augmented the effects of ACh in the brains of healthy human participants by administering the cholinesterase inhibitor donepezil (trade name: Aricept). I will describe the effects of increased ACh signaling on perceptual learning, visual spatial attention, and encoding of stimulus information in visual cortex. Our results demonstrate that pharmacological enhancement of cholinergic transmission produces many of the same effects as allocation of endogenous attention, including facilitating perceptual learning and increasing the selectivity of visual cortical responses to visual stimuli.http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=121357&date=2018-11-07Attentional Episodes and Cognitive Control, Nov 9http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=119324&date=2018-11-09
Abstract: Human fMRI studies show a tightly-localised set of “multiple-demand” or MD regions, involved in solution of many different cognitive challenges, widely separated yet strongly functionally connected, and linked to standard measures of fluid intelligence. Multiple-demand regions are generally associated with “cognitive control”, but how should control be conceived? Using data from behavioural, imaging and single unit studies, I argue that the core role of MD regions is to solve complex problems in an integrated structure of simpler, more solvable, focused parts. With wide distribution in the brain, strong functional connectivity, modest relative specializations, and strong conjunctive coding, MD regions are well placed to act as the integrating core of complex thought and behaviour.<br />
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Bio: After completing his education at the University of Cambridge in 1976, Duncan worked for two years with Michael Posner at the University of Oregon, and then worked at the Medical Research Council (MRC). As of 2018, he is Programme Leader at the MRC's Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit in Cambridge; he is also a Professorial Research Fellow in the Department of Experimental Psychology at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of St John's College, Oxford.<br />
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Duncan was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2008 and a Fellow of the British Academy in 2009. In 2012, he was awarded the Heineken Prize for Cognitive Science by the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=119324&date=2018-11-09The Epistemology of Overconfidence, Nov 14http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=119820&date=2018-11-14
In this talk, I begin by distinguishing three forms of overconfidence: overestimation, overplacement, and overprecision. Of these, overprecision (inflated confidence in the accuracy of our knowledge or predictions) is the most robust and least understood. I document its role in self-assessment, test performance, and macroeconomic forecasts. This leads to an epistemological exploration regarding what it means to be overprecise: the challenge of being both wrong and knowing it; that is, holding beliefs about which one is appropriately skeptical, and well-calibrated about the possibility that one’s beliefs are incorrect. I then offer a new theory to account for the evidence and test some of its novel predictions.http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=119820&date=2018-11-14Neurocomputational mechanisms underlying social norms and controllability, Nov 28http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=121507&date=2018-11-28
To maintain the normal functioning of a society, individuals must be able to learn to adapt to norms. Neuroimaging studies have suggested that the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and the insular cortex might be important for norm learning. However, norms are not static processes but rather, can be changed and updated if individuals of a society learn to act on them. In other words, the ability to gain control is also critical in strategic social interactions. Dr. Gu's findings highlight a key role of prospective mental simulation in social exchange and a discrepancy between reality and beliefs about controllability of social environments. These results also expand the idea of model-based decision processes to the social domain.http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=121507&date=2018-11-28Classical visual phenomenology revisited, Nov 28http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=121692&date=2018-11-28
We have all seen Jastrow’s Rabbit Duck, Rubin’s face-vase, the reversing Necker cube as well as the Kanizsa triangle. These images have graced elementary psychology textbooks and pop science books alike. Yet they have remained as memorable curios without influencing mainstream thinking as to how the visual system operates. Maybe it’s because visual science has gravitated to more “objective” measures, using sophisticated psychophysical methodology. However, we argue here that some of the oldest perceptual demonstrations, especially the century old Rubin Face Vase and the subjective contours of Kanizsa figures, supplemented by newer demonstrations from my group, are unusually revealing as to fundamental visual processing. In particular Rubin’s figure-ground takes on a more modern interpretation, reflecting changing “border ownership” signals. These signals delineate the bounding (occluding) contours of surfaces and objects in 3-D scenes. Such border ownership signals have been shown in primate visual area V2 by Rudiger von der Heydt and colleagues. Our claim is that perceived subjective contour strength constitutes a direct readout of border ownership neuronal firing. As such, perceptual phenomenology itself provides a powerful way to track specific neuronal populations which are involved in signally bounding contours of surfaces and objects, furnishing a unique and readily available “subjective” bioassay. With this, we show that relatively that low level rather than high level visual patterns are operative, consistent with bounding contour assignment occurring in relatively early retino-topic cortex.http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=121692&date=2018-11-28Individual differences in brain development and plasticity - effects on learning, Dec 12http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=121508&date=2018-12-12
Dr. Allyson Mackey will discuss her research on understanding individual differences in brain development and plasticity, and the impact of these differences on learning and academic performance. She will present research linking socioeconomic status, which encompasses a broad set of childhood experiences, to the structure and function of cortex. She then will examine the impact of specific experiences, including stress, language exposure, and learning, on neurocognitive development. Finally she will close with a discussion of how advances in neuroscience can be leveraged to inform the type and timing of educational interventions.http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=121508&date=2018-12-12Principles and mechanisms of Mutual Understanding, Jan 23http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=122846&date=2019-01-23
Intuitively, humans understand one another because they share the same set of communicative signals such as words and gestures. However, that intuition neglects the extreme flexibility with which we employ our communicative signals in everyday social interaction. Neither can it account for our evolutionarily unique ability to instantly reach joint meaning of new signals in the first place. In this talk, I will present neuroscientific evidence converging on the notion that human communicators share not signals but a fleeting cognitive space. This shared cognitive space provides context for selecting and interpreting communicative signals that can be mutually understood. The shared cognitive space is jointly coordinated and updated during social interaction, and that coordinated updating is altered in individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Finally, I will present ongoing work demonstrating how empirical studies of social interaction can be combined with intracranial recordings in neurosurgical patients to yield rare mechanistic insights into our core mutual understanding abilities.http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=122846&date=2019-01-23From family research to family policy, Jan 28http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=122749&date=2019-01-28
Phil Cowan is a Professor of Psychology, Emeritus, and Carolyn Cowan is a Professor of Psychology, Emerita at UCB. They are both longtime members of IHD. Beginning in the 1970s, they have pioneered a preventive intervention approach to strengthening family relationships. Although the prevailing strategy for facilitating children's development has been parenting classes (attended mostly by mothers), the Cowans have devised couples groups that bring fathers into the intervention, and allow a focus on the relationship between the parents. Along with colleagues, they have conducted 7 intervention trials, 4 of them using a randomized control design, in California, Canada, and England, including more than 1000 couples, most of them with low incomes. Because governments in both the USA and the United Kingdom have become concerned with devising ways to encourage father involvement and reduce family conflict, the Cowans have become involved in considering dilemmas in the field of family policy. The colloquium will provide a quick trip through more than 4 decades of research, and consider some of the issues in decisions made by current family policy-makers and family service providers.http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=122749&date=2019-01-28Neurophysiology of Spatial Learning and Memory, Jan 28http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=122960&date=2019-01-28
http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=122960&date=2019-01-28Clinical Science Colloquium, Jan 29http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=122953&date=2019-01-29
Unhappy intimate partner relationships take a toll on mental and physical health, elevating the risk for many disorders including depression, cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome, and diabetes. Relationship distress impacts key physiological systems implicated in each of these disorders, including the sympathetic and parasympathetic branches of the autonomic nervous system, the immune system’s inflammatory response, and the gut microbiota. The multiple stresses of a troubled relationship are depressogenic, and the development of a mood disorder sets the stage for psychological and biological vulnerability. Depression provides a central pathway to immune dysregulation, inflammation, and poor health. Sleep and obesity can simultaneously feed off depression as they fuel its fires. In addition, the strong mutual influences that the members of a couple have on each other's mental and physical health trajectories provides a new way to view the health implications of couples’ convergence or interdependence. Partner similarities in health behaviors, gene expression, immune profiles and the gut microbiota offer new ways to consider the health advantages and risks of marriage and divorce, providing new perspectives on couples’ interdependence, as well as new directions for research.http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=122953&date=2019-01-29Language form as a window onto representations of attachment relationships, with quantifiable implications in psychopathology, resilience, and cultural practice, Feb 4http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=123387&date=2019-02-04
Ainsworth found a remarkably efficient window onto experience-developed internal working models of attachment when she and her colleagues deployed the Strange Situation Procedure for analyzing the choreography of infant-parent behaviors in the lab. Main and colleagues added to this foundation by developing the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI), a method that analyzes language as a psychologically informed behavior. That is, the AAI not only regards language in dialog as a shared symbolic system for content reporting, but also examines specific linguistic forms as an informative vein of analysis, providing systematically derived and quantified results. I will present meta-analytic findings that this linguistic-formal method can detect unresolved/disorganized attachment representations that mark a greater than two-fold risk for post-traumatic stress disorder or borderline personality disorder. Also, I will present results from a new interview modeled on the AAI, to consider the unresolved states of mind and their carry-over versus resilience in the context of religiosity as a specific form of attachment-informed cultural practice.http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=123387&date=2019-02-04Clinical Science Colloquium, Feb 5http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=123093&date=2019-02-05
Over the past two decades, neuroimaging studies have defined a set of distributed brain systems that contribute to cognition, emotion, mood and other mental processes. Perturbations in these circuits have been identified in different ways across psychiatric disorders. The challenge ahead of us is how to use these insights to: 1) understand the nature of neural circuit deficits in mental illnesses and their relevance for existing treatments, and 2) to develop novel circuit-based therapeutics. I will discuss work in the lab defining the neural circuit abnormalities associated with psychiatric disorders as a whole, as well as specific changes associated with particular mood and anxiety disorders (and subgroups within them). I will then examine the mechanisms of current medication, psychotherapy and brain stimulation treatments within the context of a circuit-based understanding. Finally, I will describe new methods for direct and non-invasive probing and manipulation of circuits and insights that this brings for the development of new circuit-targeting therapeutics. Together, these data suggest that we are now on the brink of innovations in "rational" circuit-based diagnosis and treatments for mental illness. Success down this path will take us beyond use of symptom checklists for diagnosis, and one-size-fits all treatment with the psychopharmacological and psychotherapeutic tools currently available.http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=123093&date=2019-02-052019 Summer Opportunities Fair, Feb 6http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=118060&date=2019-02-06
Wondering what to do next summer? Visit the Summer Opportunities Fair to learn about exciting summer options for UC Berkeley students, including summer courses, study abroad, student jobs and internships, research, volunteer and service, and more.<br />
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Representatives from Berkeley campus units will be tabling with information on their courses and programs.<br />
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Exhibitors include:<br />
African American Studies<br />
American Studies<br />
Arts and Humanities<br />
Art Practice<br />
Astronomy<br />
Berkeley Center for New Media<br />
Berkeley Certificate in Design Innovation<br />
Berkeley Charter of Professional Accountancy<br />
Berkeley International Office<br />
Berkeley Study Abroad<br />
BUILD Literacy Mentoring<br />
Cal Housing<br />
CalTeach STEM Education and Beyond<br />
Career Center<br />
Celtic, Italian, Scandinavian, and Slavic<br />
Center for African Studies<br />
Classics<br />
College of Environmental Design<br />
College Writing Programs<br />
Comparative Literature<br />
Data Science and Information<br />
The Developing Child Minor<br />
Digital Humanities Minor<br />
Early Academic Outreach Program<br />
Earth and Planetary Science<br />
Educating for the 21st Century Minor<br />
Energy and Resources Group<br />
English<br />
Ethnic Studies<br />
Film and Media<br />
Financial Aid and Scholarships Office<br />
French<br />
Gender and Women’s Studies/LGBT<br />
Geography<br />
German and Dutch Studies<br />
The Global Poverty and Practice Minor<br />
Haas School of Business Undergraduate Program<br />
History<br />
History of Art<br />
Institute of European Studies<br />
Institute of Governmental Studies<br />
Institute for South Asia Studies<br />
Integrative Biology<br />
International House<br />
Jacobs Institute for Design Innovation<br />
Journalism in the Digital Age Minor<br />
Media Studies<br />
Molecular and Cell Biology<br />
Music<br />
Near Eastern Studies<br />
New Student Services/Golden Bear Orientation<br />
Office of Undergraduate Research & Scholarships<br />
Physical Education<br />
Psychology<br />
Rhetoric<br />
School of Public Health<br />
Social Welfare<br />
Sociology<br />
South & Southeast Asian Studies<br />
Spanish & Portuguese<br />
Student Affairs Business Development<br />
Summer Forestry Field Program<br />
Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies<br />
UC Education Abroad Programhttp://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=118060&date=2019-02-06Perceptual Learning in Support of Language: Insights from Infants and Cochlear Implantees, Feb 11http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=123633&date=2019-02-11
Cochlear implants improve the ability of profoundly deaf children to understand speech by allowing a way for sound to be transmitted to the brain despite the lack of a working conduction system in the inner ear. Much of what we know about the course of auditory learning following cochlear implantation in young children is based on behavioral indicators that they are able to perceive sound. However, congenitally-deaf children have no concept of what sound is, and thus have highly variable behavioral responses when initially exposed to it. In recent work, my collaborators and I have been using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) as a tool to track changes in speech-evoked cortical activity following cochlear implantation in prelingually deafened infants and young children, as well as in post-lingually deafened adults. We have also been testing how typically developing infants are able to process degraded auditory speech given crossmodal support. Results from both lines of research have theoretical and practical implications for understanding speech processing in a multimodal world.http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=123633&date=2019-02-11Testing the role of the basal ganglia in choice, Feb 11http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=122961&date=2019-02-11
http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=122961&date=2019-02-11Do Bullies Win?, Feb 13http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=121813&date=2019-02-13
All too commonly, we see aggressive, bullying individuals in positions of influence and power. The frequency with which these individuals occupy the top echelon begs the question: does aggression and bullying help people rise to the top of social hierarchies? According to dominance theory, the answer is “yes”: individuals can attain influence by intimidating others and forcing them to defer. Dominance theory has become very popular in the field and is commonly taken on faith. In this talk I take a critical look at dominance theory, arguing why dominance is unlikely to help individuals gain influence in the long run. I then summarize the evidence cited as supportive of dominance theory, and discuss how it can be explained instead with prestige theory - which argues that individuals attain influence by appearing to provide value to their group. Finally, I present findings that can help explain why people so commonly believe dominance is an effective route to the top, even when it is not.http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=121813&date=2019-02-13Investigations into the neuropsychology of face perception, Feb 20http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=123923&date=2019-02-20
I'll discuss two topics in my presentation. First, I'll provide an overview of previous studies examining the cognitive and neural basis of developmental prosopagnosia (DP), and then I'll discuss a recent fMRI study from my lab that assessed 26 category-selective areas in a relatively large sample of DPs. Our results revealed that face selectivity was reduced across the face network in the DPs due to weaker responses to faces. We also found selectivity reductions to bodies in body areas and pronounced selectivity reductions to scenes in scene areas. Together, these results demonstrate that many DPs have widespread selectivity reductions across category-selective visual cortex. These reductions indicate DP often results from neurobiological factors with relatively broad effects rather than insufficient experience with faces, and they point the way toward a better understanding of the behavioral heterogeneity present in DP. Second, I'll discuss the results of behavioral testing with Claudio, a Brazilian man who has a congenital joint disorder that caused his head to be rotated back so that it nearly rests against his back. As a result, Claudio has often viewed faces that are not matched to his face's orientation. Claudio's unusual experience with faces allows us to assess the developmental origin of the most fundamental effect in face perception -- the face inversion effect. Across five face detection tests and five face identity perception tasks, Claudio showed comparable performance with upright and inverted faces and these results indicate experience plays a role in our superior performance with upright faces. However, Claudio's performance on the upright face tasks was much worse than controls despite normal performance on other tasks, which suggests upright superiority may result from a combination of experience and phylogenetic factors.http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=123923&date=2019-02-20Values alignment, Feb 20http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=121815&date=2019-02-20
The science of behavior change has become an increasingly important frontier in the quest to improve human health and well-being. Recognition of this is now widespread in the scientific community, but the science of behavior change—the development of effective, empirically-validated techniques for producing lasting, internalized motivation for the behavioral choices people know they should be making but usually don’t—is still badly underdeveloped. Most public appeals to engage in such “should behaviors” (e.g., exercise, eat healthily, save for the future, conserve energy) are predicated on the pragmatic reasons why they are important. The problem with this approach is that those pragmatic arguments lack the motivational immediacy to drive the needed changes in behavior for reasons psychologists have understood for decades. Here, I suggest an alternative approach: re-framing should behaviors in terms that emphasize how those behaviors serve the values that are already immediate and important to the people whose behavior one seeks to change. In this talk, I will describe one example of this approach in depth—an intervention to get adolescents to adopt healthier dietary habits by framing manipulative food marketing as a subversion of important adolescent values, including autonomy from adult control and social justice—and discuss ways in which this approach can be applied to motivate other types of important behavior change.http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=121815&date=2019-02-20Mindful Awareness Guided Meditation, thru May 2http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=123056&date=2019-02-21
Focus the mind. Foster creativity, resilience, and well-being. These meetings are free and open to faculty, students, and staff. You are invited to drop in at noon any Thursday.http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=123056&date=2019-02-21What accounts for socioeconomic differences in child-directed speech? The role of resource scarcity, Feb 25http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=124060&date=2019-02-25
Parents with fewer educational and economic resources (low socioeconomic-status, SES) tend to speak less with their children, with important consequences for children’s later language outcomes and, ultimately, their performance in school. Despite this well-established link, surprisingly little research has focused on why such a gap exists. In fact, most researchers rely on individual-level explanations for CDS disparities, including parenting knowledge and effort, with little attention to structural factors that may contribute to these differences. Here, we investigate one possible structural explanation for SES differences in CDS: low-SES parents are more likely to experience resource scarcity. Building on evidence that reminders of scarcity affect attention and cognition, we ask whether low-SES parents may direct less speech to their children not because they lack parenting knowledge, but because managing the challenges imposed by poverty requires significant cognitive resources. I will discuss the findings from two studies—experimental and observational—that begin to consider the causal role of resource scarcity in the well-established SES-CDS gap.http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=124060&date=2019-02-25What do language disorders reveal about the brain? From classic models to network approaches, Feb 25http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=122963&date=2019-02-25
Past approaches to the study of language and the brain have focused largely on the contributions of Broca's and Wernicke's areas. By using advanced neuroimaging techniques with individuals who have aphasia, we have now learned that language is an extraordinarily complex system that requires an extensive and interactive network of brain regions to sustain it. We have also learned that an intricate system of fiber pathways connect these regions together and has been underestimated in terms of its importance in supporting language. This information has advanced our understanding of how the brain processes language in important ways, while inviting future investigations to embrace novel approaches to the study of brain-behavior relationships.http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=122963&date=2019-02-25Multidimensional Identities, Feb 25http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=123669&date=2019-02-25
In this talk, Dr. Faheemah Mustafaa will share findings from her multidisciplinary survey study with 238 Black K-12 educators from around the United States. Using psychological measures, she explores the diversity of racial identity attitudes, culturally relevant pedagogy dispositions, and teacher education training experiences present among today’s Black educators. <br />
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In study 1, Beneath the Skin, Dr. Mustafaa and colleagues use a psychological racial identity framework to examine individual differences in Black educators’ perspectives on culturally relevant pedagogy. Study 1 also illuminates differences in Black educators’ culturally relevant pedagogy dispositions by individual sociodemographic factors (e.g., social class upbringing, birth cohort/generation) and school context factors (e.g., urbanicity, racial demographics, Title I status). Dr. Mustafaa’s study 2, Black Educators and Multicultural Education, shows associations between Black educators’ multicultural education training and (1) their beliefs about race and culture, and (2) their race and culture-related classroom practices. <br />
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Altogether, the National Survey of Black Teachers highlights nuances in how Black educators think about themselves as racialized individuals in society and their attitudes toward race and culture in the classroom. Dr. Mustafaa will highlight the utility of psychology toward understanding within-group diversity among teachers of color, and will discuss practical implications for teacher education and teacher retention.<br />
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About the Speaker. Dr. Faheemah N. Mustafaa is a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Psychology (Social-Personality area) at the University of California, Berkeley. Her research focuses on K-12 educators’ racial attitudes and related instructional practices; teacher-student relationships; and students’ perceptions of their teachers’ classroom practices. She is committed to work that provides equitable access to education and wellness opportunities for all children.<br />
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Dr. Mustafaa earned her doctorate in the Combined Program in Education and Psychology, her master’s degree in Higher Education at the University of Michigan, and her bachelor’s degree in Biobehavioral Health at Pennsylvania State University. She is a Ford Foundation fellow and Co-PI on a $400,000 Jobs for the Future Student-Centered Learning Research Collaborative grant with Dr. Jason Okonofua.http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=123669&date=2019-02-25ICBS Seminar, Feb 27http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=123635&date=2019-02-27
The Mind in Big Data, Zach Pardos<br />
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Learning with Minimal Human Supervision, Stella Yuhttp://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=123635&date=2019-02-27How to Change Your Mind, Mar 5http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=123379&date=2019-03-05
In his latest book, How to Change Your Mind, Michael Pollan turns his focus to psychedelics — LSD, psilocybin mushrooms, and the like — exploring their history, use, and potential to help people not only transcend, but also treat conditions from addiction to anxiety. Pollan will join Dacher Keltner, a professor of psychology at UC Berkeley and founder of the Greater Good Science Center, for a conversation about the book. Copies will be available to purchase from Pegasus Books. The event is free. Registration is necessary to be assured of a seat.http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=123379&date=2019-03-05The Development of Reasoning about Religious Norms, Mar 6http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=121817&date=2019-03-06
Children who live in pluralistic societies often encounter members of other religious and secular groups who hold radically different beliefs and norms. Under these circumstances, developing religious tolerance––respecting that each group has its own beliefs and norms––is both challenging and crucial. When individuals in pluralistic societies fail to develop religious tolerance, the consequences can be dire. For example, in India, Muslims have recently been attacked because they were suspected of violating the Hindu prohibition against killing cows. Promoting peaceful co-existence among groups thus requires understanding how people construe and tolerate religious differences. In this talk, I will present a recent line of work on the development of religious tolerance among Hindu and Muslim children in Gujarat, India—a site of recent violent Hindu-Muslim conflict. These studies explore how Hindu and Muslim children conceptualize rules from their own religion, as well as rules from the other religion. For example, we probe children’s beliefs about to whom religious rules apply, whether violations of these rules should be punished, and how the contexts in which rule violations take place affect children’s evaluations. Our findings suggest that although children’s application of religious norms across groups and contexts often allows for peaceful coexistence, it might also lead to conflict.http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=121817&date=2019-03-06Aging, Memory and Alzheimer’s disease, Mar 11http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=122964&date=2019-03-11
It has long been known that older individuals often experience decline in their episodic memory abilities. Within the past decade, new approaches have revealed the frequent presence of the aggregated proteins beta-amyloid and tau in the brains of cognitively normal older people. These proteins are also associated with Alzheimer’s disease. By imaging these proteins in normal older people, and pairing imaging studies with the examination of episodic memory, a model that partly explains relationships between aging, memory decline, and Alzheimer’s disease has emerged. This talk with review the evidence for how beta-amyloid and tau interact, how they spread through the brain, and how these phenomena may affect the episodic memory system in aging.http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=122964&date=2019-03-11ICBS Seminar, Mar 13http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=123636&date=2019-03-13
Number learning in the Bolivian Amazon, Steve Piantadosi<br />
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Patterns of early embryonic brain development in mammals, Terry Deaconhttp://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=123636&date=2019-03-13Life History and Learning: When (and Why) Children Are Better Learners than Both Adults and A.I., Mar 19http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=122899&date=2019-03-19
Alison Gopnik received her B.A. from McGill University and her Ph.D. from Oxford University. She is an internationally recognized leader in the study of cognitive science and of children’s learning and development and was one of the founders of the field of “theory of mind,” an originator of the “theory theory” of children’s development, and, more recently, introduced the idea that probabilistic models and Bayesian inference could be applied to children’s learning. She has held a Center for Advanced Studies in the Behavioral Sciences Fellowship and the Moore Distinguished Scholar fellowship at the California Institute of Technology, among other distinguished postings. She is an elected member of the Society of Experimental Psychologists, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a fellow of the Cognitive Science Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She is the author or coauthor of over 100 journal articles and several books including the bestselling and critically acclaimed The Scientist in the Crib, The Philosophical Baby, and The Gardener and the Carpenter. She has also written widely about cognitive science and psychology for The New York Times, The Atlantic, The New Yorker, Science, and other publications.http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=122899&date=2019-03-19The Science of a Happy Relationship, Mar 22http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=123089&date=2019-03-22
For the past two decades, the field of positive psychology has been growing rapidly. Over that time, one of the key findings from positive psychology research has been: Other people matter. In fact, a pillar of positive psychology is that our close relationships with others are essential to human flourishing and happiness. <br />
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Romantic relationships in particular have an enormous influence on our well-being. Yet it is not always easy to maintain a long-term, healthy relationship. <br />
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In this lively and interactive day-long event, leading experts will explain how ground breaking research can help support happy and lasting relationships. The day will feature husband-and-wife team Suzann Pileggi Pawelski and James Pawelski, the executive director of the International Positive Psychology Association. Together they will summarize some of the key research findings highlighted in their recent book Happy Together: Using the Science of Positive Psychology to Build Love That Lasts—the first book on applying the principles of positive psychology to create thriving romantic relationships.<br />
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Specifically, they will discuss healthy habits that couples can cultivate to become happy together over the long term. Some of the evidence-based topics they will address include the importance of savoring shared experiences with one another, and how to identify, build, and appreciate our strengths and those of our partner. They will also introduce their Interaction Model of strengths they developed to help couples relate better to one another.<br />
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The day will also include presentations by other experts who will zero in on specific positive psychology skills and strengths. Shauna Shapiro, a world-renowned expert on the science and practice of mindfulness and compassion, will explain how those skills can help re-introduce joy, vitality, and intimacy into romantic relationships. Dr. Shapiro’s presentation will not only cover cutting-edge research on mindfulness and compassion but also offer concrete practices, based on that research, that couples can apply to re-invigorate their lives together.<br />
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Additionally, gratitude researcher Amie Gordon will highlight both the various ways in which gratitude helps support and sustain our most important relationships—and also the various barriers that make it more difficult to feel and express. Dr. Gordon will provide specific suggestions for how to overcome those barriers, along with evidence-based tips for cultivating more gratitude in relationships.<br />
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The day offers 5.5 CEs for psychologists, social workers-intermediate level, MFTs, counselors, nurses, teachers, and others—all levels. For more information, please see our "Continuing Education" tab.<br />
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*The day will provide invaluable tools to anyone working with couples in professional settings or who is focused on helping people strengthen their relationships in general; it will also be useful to couples who want to deepen their bond.http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=123089&date=2019-03-22ICBS Special Event: The Neural Basis of Attention, Mar 22http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=123637&date=2019-03-22
Festschrift in Honor of Bob Rafal<br />
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Full schedule will be provided in future.http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=123637&date=2019-03-22Contribution of Prefrontal Cortex to Human Behavior, Apr 8http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=122965&date=2019-04-08
http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=122965&date=2019-04-08Emotion-related impulsivity: Outcomes and Potential Mechanisms, Apr 22http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=122967&date=2019-04-22
http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=122967&date=2019-04-22ICBS Seminar, May 8http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=123638&date=2019-05-08
Optimal Robot Action for and around People, Anca Dragon<br />
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3D Vision in Natural Environments, Emily Cooperhttp://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/Psych.html?event_ID=123638&date=2019-05-08